Measuring Word-of-Mouth

Measuring Word-of-Mouth: "Indeed, the rise of word-of-mouth and buzz marketing couldn't come at a better time - or a worse one. On one hand, it offers marketers the chance to bypass increasingly spotty communication channels and avoid the middleman known as paid media in favor of one of the oldest and most effective forms of communication. On the other hand, it is enormously difficult to quantify return on investment from this most ephemeral of media. A whole cottage industry has sprung up around the demand for word-of-mouth measurement. But so far, not even the companies that are best at monitoring word-of-mouth feel they've cracked the code"